What goes for the rest of your post, I believe you're a bit too fixated on REAPER as a brand rather than seeing REAPER as a DAW. My views will most likely seem wrong and fluff-ish to you no matter what.

REAPER is unique to you. That's OK

Haha, well whatever mate, you're the one claiming it's not unique - i've presented numerous objective facts to demonstrate it is, yet you're unable to intellectually argue against them or provide any evidence to go against that.

IOW you can't back up the claims you're making.

Now you're happy to walk away with the belief that i'm fixated on brands and being subjective on the matter - which is diversion tactics in full flow, i've been very specific on it's uniqueness but if you can't argue against that at least be respectful on the matter.

Why am i even bothered by this? Well, as a professional coder it's really offensive reading your stance on it being 'just code', when there's so much philosophising, design ideas, concepts etc. that goes into small projects, let alone something the size of Reaper. And may i add a shit ton of passion and vision.

It's how software development works, and a project like Reaper is a beam of light for electronic musicians on a budget, or who're willing to put the leg work in to get something totally customised to suit their workflow and/or setup. I'm amazed that as a user you don't even comprehend that.

I guess a well sculptured piece of furniture is just 'wood' and a rare piece of art is just 'paint' right? It's not possible for them to be unique as their underlying base material is as stated, just like code. Pfft!

And you are the one claiming it is. Have you tried ALL the DAWs on the market thoroughly enough to “back up” that?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skijumptoes

Why am i even bothered by this? Well, as a professional coder ...

Which adds absolutely no meaning to your telling-off. Because, see, so am I.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skijumptoes

I guess a well sculptured piece of furniture is just 'wood' and a rare piece of art is just 'paint' right?

Well – yes!

As far as "well sculptured" and "rare piece of art" is concerned, though, it's hardly up to the creator/author to decide, it's in the eye of the beholder. Not even you, “professional” or not, are in any position to tell people what they should or should not consider being "well sculptured" and "rare piece of art".

I prefer REAPER over any DAW, and I’ve been using REAPER exclusively since 2009. But I don’t think REAPER is unique. I just don’t know (please don’t tell me) why you have to make such a big deal out of it ...

And you are the one claiming it is. Have you tried ALL the DAWs on the market thoroughly enough to “back up” that?

Yes, i've used all the major DAWs since back in the Amiga/ST days - infact, even some of the C64 stuff too, but that wasn't quite up to the standards with the advent of the ST, and Amiga MOD scene.

Throughout the Cubase VST years i was selling and beta testing various audio software, and wrote some librarian software for hardware synths, then been an avid user of eMagic/Logic software primarily and Ardour/Linux, but part of my work supported hardware running Avid, Steinberg, Apple, Presonus software.

The only DAW i've not spent many hours with personally is pro tools, but that's mainly because of the requirement for it before it went native, however i did service hardware running it.

And hand on heart, i can't think of a single DAW that offer what Reaper does - i can think of many that are far more integrated and complete, and are less goofy - i mean Reaper is an absolute oddball in my opinion, and that's what makes it so unique. In fact, if you don't know it and you come from a suite such as Logic - Reaper comes across as terrible, but you need to put time into and mould it around you before it really shines. That's why it's unique.

Quote:

Which adds absolutely no meaning to your telling-off. Because, see, so am I.

Well, then how can you point the finger at some code and say it's all 'just code' to support the theory that something in code cannot be unique, or have magic attached to it? Code is just the final medium for the hardwork and in fact is purely a compiled/interpretation of what the developers put in - so it's not even the same across platforms/builds. It's purely how their tools and vision is transported to us end users.

Quote:

As far as "well sculptured" and "rare piece of art" is concerned, though, it's hardly up to the creator/author to decide, it's in the eye of the beholder. Not even you, “professional” or not, are in any position to tell people what they should or should not consider being "well sculptured" and "rare piece of art".

I'm talking uniqueness, your argument is that a piece of code is a piece of code - therefore it lacks 'magic' or uniqueness. So i applied that to Art or Sculpture which could be traced back to the piece of wood, or paper/paints that were used to also claim they're not unique, it's bollocks and you know it is. There's as much art, science and magic in software for us who know it, as there is in the eye of fine arts trader. And that applies to games, audio software, design software, database tools etc.

Quote:

I prefer REAPER over any DAW, and I’ve been using REAPER exclusively since 2009. But I don’t think REAPER is unique. I just don’t know (please don’t tell me) why you have to make such a big deal out of it ...

I have to make a deal out of it because of how you replied to someone on this post with the ignorance and disregard for the people who created it, and it's module/moddable architecture. It's almost autistic to separate the humanity from the code, the craft, the vision etc.

Show me another DAW out there which competes with the top dogs (Pro Tools/Logic etc.), Audio (Core/ASIO/WM) and MIDI (SysEx, PolyAT) support, Video functions etc. and has such generous trial versions, Is super affordable, Widely open to user modifications/customisation, Low CPU usage, Multiplatform etc.

There isn't one, and if you think that none of the above is it's DNA and it's branding then you're sadly mistaken - tahe lack of security concerns in protecting their product means they can open it to the community and also means that every ounce of CPU time can go into making the DAW run as well as it does.

That's very low risk, but if it happened we would simply have to accept that we would be down to one amazing developer from two.

This program and development process is in far better shape than something like Pro Tools, in which a brainless CEO can move all development overseas for offshore development at any moment. That forces the entire engineering team to try to understand what the software does, a very hard task indeed. And according to reports, that is exactly what happened to Pro Tools, not once, but twice. And that's why Pro Tools is such a mess right now, such a fiasco, with very little development or progress (unless you call a useless Cloud feature "progress") in the last five years. Version 11 was done in Ukraine, then the outsourcing was suddenly shifted to Poland for v12 and the current PT2018.

A piece of software is only as good as the developers. We are lucky, incredibly lucky, to have the two best DAW developers in the business.

That's very low risk, but if it happened we would simply have to accept that we would be down to one amazing developer from two.

This program and development process is in far better shape than something like Pro Tools, in which a brainless CEO can move all development overseas for offshore development at any moment. That forces the entire engineering team to try to understand what the software does, a very hard task indeed. And according to reports, that is exactly what happened to Pro Tools, not once, but twice. And that's why Pro Tools is such a mess right now, such a fiasco, with very little development or progress (unless you call a useless Cloud feature "progress") in the last five years. Version 11 was done in Ukraine, then the outsourcing was suddenly shifted to Poland for v12 and the current PT2018.

A piece of software is only as good as the developers. We are lucky, incredibly lucky, to have the two best DAW developers in the business.

OP's question is not too different from asking if a software is being discontinued or purchased by another company with a radically different philosophy.

So I would give an example of Adobe vs Syntrillium, (Audition vs Cool Edit).

I am still using Audition 1.5 (2004) since it still preserved a lot of "Syntrillium flavor", and it is still fully funtional.

...and something like GigaSampler (NemeSys). But this one is not so lucky, After Tascam acquired GigaSampler and changed it into GigaStudio, Tascam discontinued it and everyone nowadays use something else.

What does it mean? It means nothing is forever, at some point you may need to switch to another piece of software, or if you have a lot of time and very clever, write your own DAW.

1. This question is uterrly macabre.
2. Have you seen how many releases we had lately, Justin can't be hit by a car, since he never leaves his house.
And 3. You could also ask: what happens to Logic / Cubase if Apple / Steinberg go bankrupt...?

I think there are better ways to express your admiration for Justin and Schwa

I was pretty devastated when I lost the use of Opcode Vision. It's still out there somewhere, but I'm not going back to Mac, and Apple has a way of changing their OS so that nothing works anymore and you have to buy all new software, so I'm not sure it would even run unless I can find on old G3 in somebody's closet.

Windows also occasionally messes enough things up in an OS update to where we can't actually be confident that today's version of Reaper will work on Windows 12. Course, I'm still running two XP machines...

IF this were to happen. 1st beat the tar out of the offending driver...

Then (just imagine) the MOST LEGENDARY Requiem ever would be created within Reaper. Then all other DAWS would cease to function out of grief and Reaper will become the ONLY one to continue. Obviously this is the only possibility. (at least in my tiny little thread in the multiverse).

I asked something similar in another thread a while back -- I can't recall the answer, but the basic idea was that Justin and Schwa have some sort of continuity plan if Justin disappears off the face of the earth, etc. They gave me the impression that there is the safe business use case for Reaper, and it seemed like there's no issue. But as ED said, your projects are safe in whatever the current version and also keep in mind that the actual save files of Reaper are basically TXT files in an XML-like format that would be relatively easy to parse the write a translator for. Open up a Reaper save file and you'll see what I mean. It's actually easy to read and understand, which is really refreshing. So you are actually in really good shape with Reaper IMO, and I'm pretty damn picky about this issue.

The answer was also that the human factor is not the biggest risk for a company and that financial risks or corporate strategy risks are as big if not bigger, as we've seen quite recently. Even Apple with all their money killed Aperture for obscure reasons, a software that was widely popular.

And hand on heart, i can't think of a single DAW that offer what Reaper does - i can think of many that are far more integrated and complete, and are less goofy - i mean Reaper is an absolute oddball in my opinion, and that's what makes it so unique. In fact, if you don't know it and you come from a suite such as Logic - Reaper comes across as terrible, but you need to put time into and mould it around you before it really shines. That's why it's unique.

Given such eulogising, it is time to dig out this poem I posted here back in 2011, after I discovered Reaper! Enjoy -

ProTools was kewl, but not for fools
And the colours were cheerful and bright.
But we're upgrading again and feeling the pain,
As the price is just no longer right.

And HD don't work on a laptop,
Soundscape is not worth the bread.
A friend told me "I've - got Ableton Live,
But I think it's just Ableton Dead."

Pyramix is confusing, the thread I am losing
And the price is just way out of line.
The things that I need are hidden indeed
And still no elastical time.

Propellerhead Reason is so out of season,
Nuendo is way past its' prime.
CuBase and Sadie, Majix Sequoia
All very nice, but the whole list will bore ya!

Illogical Logic, it just doesn't make sense!
And keep feeding Avid Pounds, Shillings and Pence,
HD was fine, but I'm far from happy.
I need all those tools installed on my lappy.

So I phoned a friend and told of my woe
And how I was searching both high and low.
"And Apple will leave the PCM wicket,
So that HDX card, just where should I stick it?"

"There's a software" he told me. "that's just the ticket,
So you won't need a card and you don't have to stick it!
I speak of package that's more than a DAW,
That does all HD does and very much more!"

"This is an '▄ber-DAW' free to download,
That will light up your life and lighten your load.
It's bundled with everything, so very soon
It's goodbye to Waves and Autotune!"

"Solution, ablution and convolution,
Compressor, de-esser and noise resolution,
Retune, harmonize, cut, paste and nudge,
Find beats and quantise, you be the judge!"

I listened in awe as he listed the features
And how to mix WAVs with all other creatures.
"Just chuck 'em together!" Oh, I was agog!
MP3, AVI, AIFF and some OGG.

"It comes complete with hundreds of plugs,
So buying the others is now just for mugs!
Scope, analyse, chorus and gleaming,
Transient designer and eight-channel streaming."

"Hammer your sounds and tune-up pink noise,
Then remodulate with all your new toys.
When nobody's looking, slip in a repeater
And impress the girls with your Goniometer!"

I put down the phone and got to installing.
Imported some WAVs and it was enthralling,
As the room filled with music, oh, I was ecstatic,
As mixing and routing was all automatic!

The edits were easy, in fact, like a dream
And squeezing and stretching - all perfectly clean!
For those who get lost, there's more help for them.
Just right-click and pick! No more RTFM!

But should you get lost and confusion has smitten,
There are 400 pages, all perfectly written!
Soon all the World will be hooked on Reaper
Because it's much better and not just much cheaper!

Now, sloppy drums are all MIDI-fitting.
I click them away with some Dynamic Splitting!
No more struggles with building a mixer and routing
When out in the room, some fat bird is tooting!

But I have spent thousands and thousands of Pounds
On flashy gear, to get better sounds.
Struggling manfully as I got older
With miles of cable and kilos of solder.

Under desk crawling, the feeling was galling,
As box after box, I was installing.
Now all replaceable, better and cheaper,
A couple of screens and a download called Reaper!

So, what do I do with all this gear
That sits in the studio year after year?
Flog 'em all off, the Eventide
And Lexi Nine-Sixty (Motorola inside)?